Archives for November 2014

When I go through my gear bag and I pick out a lens I get visions that flash through my head. What if it snags on the bag? What if I drop it as I put it onto the mount of the body? Will I pass out if it hits the ground?

I have always known Zeiss lenses to be built very well. I did not know what kind of testing they go through before they leave the factory. We get to watch examples of the tests a lens goes through in this video from the Carl Zeiss Group.

I will warn you that the first thing that happens… ok I can’t. Just watch the video, it’s a great look into what these lenses go through. Let’s just say that Zeiss feels confident enough to make the following statement: “A device that doesn’t work is like not having it all”.

Pete Taylor’s Holga isn’t your ordinary Holga. It isn’t even your ordinary hacked Holga. In fact, you might say that Taylor’s Holga is one of the most unusual modifications you’ve seen done to one of the notoriously hacakble cameras. It started out innocently enough…

Taylor gutted an old, broken Holga to make room inside for a Raspberry Pi, which effectively turned the once medium format film camera into a digital model. To do this, he had to remove not just the guts of the Holga, but also the lens to accommodate the built-in lens on the Raspberry Pi’s computer board. He then added a wireless USB adapter. This allows him to have his 120d automatically upload the photos he takes to his blog. He also added a 49mm adapter on the lens to accept various filters, in addition to a 3.5mm camera trigger socket, a LED indicator which glows in the viewfinder when a photo is being taken, and a rotary switch that allows him to choose between photo, video, or program mode. It’s unarguably a pretty legit hack.[Read More…]

This is a project of my hairmake friends we did together some time ago, I have another article from the same project, too I bet you’ve seen it, but here is the article for it too. It’s been really hard work putting all the blue stamps on both the model’s face and the background, but definitely worth it, as I really love that set of images! I’m using a 2 lights setup,which I’ll write about below! finally, it has a bit of style to it, either you love it or you don’t!

Almost 30 years after the tragic explosion in Chernobyl, a film crew and correspondants for CBS visited the site to work on a story detailing the cataclysmic event. As part of the crew, filmmaker and photographer, Danny Cooke, was granted access to the site for a week long exploration. Cooke seized the opportunity to create a short film which documents Chernobyl from the perspective of his Phantom DJI 2. Equipped with a GoPro3+, Canon 7D, a guide, and dosimeter geiger counter to keep tabs on radiation levels, Cooke set out to capture the footage which you can see below.[Read More…]

Who says pulling off an entire photoshoot by yourself needs to be difficult? Not Jay P. Morgan. In the quick video clip below he invites us behind the scenes of photoshoot he did on location in Maine. Morgan wanted to photograph fisherman on his first visit to New England, but he traveled light for this trip, only carrying a single light and softbox along with his camera. Seeing as how he only had two hours to setup and complete the shoot, not having an extensive lighting setup kind of worked as an advantage. He had an assistant along with him, but her job was strictly to film the behind the scenes footage, Morgan handled the photoshoot all on his own.

It’s that time of the year again: Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving isn’t only a good time to eat some turkey though, you can also spend tens of thousands of dollars in completely overcrowded stores. If you are smart however, you save some money without getting run over in the target parking lot by shopping for some photography goodies online. We put together the best Black Friday / Cyber Monday deals for you. The list will keep updating as deals are we roll. [Read More…]

Living on the ISS has it perks (like putting a Gopro in a Bubble, or capturing amazing timelapses), but one of the more underestimates benefits the lack of need for Selfie Sticks. You see, when the gravity is not pulling the camera down you can just place it in space, it has nowhere to fall to.

Editor’s Note: I am a big SNL fan and I love their super stylish opening title sequence. The production of this sequence shows true mastery and understanding the photography format (they use freelensing, creative bokeh, light painting, tilt-shifting and just about any other creative tool out there). Alex Buono, the Director of Photography of the sequence shares how it was made.

…And we’re back! After a much-needed summer hiatus, it’s that time of the year again when my comrades in the SNL Film Unit all reconvene on the 17th floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza for another season of filmmaking speed-drills.

While the usual shoot is a dead sprint from Thursday thru Saturday night, every few years we produce a new Title Sequence and that sprint becomes a 3-week non-stop marathon. Especially when it’s the 40th Anniversary season. The passing of Don Pardo — the legendary voice of SNL since 1975 — only amplified the feeling that this new sequence needed to be something extra special.

I have been filming a lot of tutorial videos lately, and one of the problems that I keep running into is starting and stopping video recording on my own.

This usually involves me walking over to the camera, pressing record and then walking back into position to film the video. I have tried using a stick, but I am not nearly that coordinated and it risks messing up the alignment of the shot. I have also tried bribing my children, but their quoted rates were a little higher than this production can afford.

The problem is especially frustrating if I have to focus the camera, in which case I usually build a little focusing dummy out of pillows or beer cases or cats.

Fortunately, if you are a Nikon user, there is a relatively simple solution.

Clinton Lofthouse is a Photographer, Retoucher and Digital Artist based in the United Kingdom, who specialises in creative retouching and composites. Proud 80's baby, reader of graphic novels and movie geek!
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